The United States passed a grim milestone on Monday with the largest single-day death toll in the country. More than 500 people died as of the night of Monday, March 30, and the country’s total deaths surpassed 3,000.
The previous highest death toll in 24 hours was 446 deaths, The Washington Post reported.
As of March 30, there are more than 164,000 confirmed coronavirus cases across all 50 states, and at least 3,050 people died from the virus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19.
Top US health official Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN the US could see “millions of cases” as the outbreak pans out, and anywhere between “100 and 200,000” deaths.
“Whenever the models come in, they give a worst-case scenario and a best-case scenario,” Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Generally, the reality is somewhere in the middle. I’ve never seen a model of the diseases that I’ve dealt with where the worst case actually came out. They always overshoot.”
The epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak lies in New York, which has at least 67,384 cases and 1,227 deaths. Other major US cities are emerging as hot spots for the coronavirus as their numbers are on the rise, including Chicago and Detroit.
Nearly a third of Americans are under stay-at-home orders in a bid to contain the spread of the disease, with non-essential businesses, restaurants, and schools closing to keep people indoors. President Donald Trump said Sunday that federal social distancing regulations will remain in place through April 30 after previously saying he wanted to open up the country by Easter, which occurs in mid-April.
The US passed both Italy — which reported the most deaths globally — and China — which is the epicenter of the global outbreak — in the total number of confirmed cases. Italy has nearly 101,800 cases, while China reported just over 82,200.
